Literary Review 

Anna Haynie 

Pd 2 Chemistry 

Lying 

A lie is an untrue statement. The act of telling a lie is making any statement that 
is not the complete and whole truth. Studies show that a person, on average, lies 
several times a day (Psychology Today) . Be it a white lie to protect someones feelings 
or a malicous lie to hurt someone, a lie is a lie. There is a wide range of ways to spot 
deception. The number one generally being a polygraph test. Other ways include 
assessin body language and facial expression or speech and explanations. 

A polygraph test is used to detect dishonesty by registering and recording 
cardiovascular shifts and respitory activity. An arm band is used to keep track of a 
persons blood pressure during the test. Because a polygraph does not give a flat 
answer of yes, this person is lying or no, this person is not lying , it is subject to a 
great deal of skepticism. An answer is only reached through the assumptions made, 
post -reviewing the test results. Because it is not a definite science, the error rate for 
polygraphs is roughly 40%. Though the error rate is so high, polygraphs are still an 
effective tool used by most government agencies and will continue to be used and 
improved upon. 

Another way that lying can be detected is through the examining of body 
language and facial features. These include noticing synchonazation of behaviors or 
facial features such as being fidgety or freezing up at a question. A person may also 


show compressed lips or a withdrawal of their chin when being questioned. One may 
raise their shoulders up and shrink into themselves while being questioned. It is also 
not uncommon to avoid or have sparatic eye contact with their questioner. After a 
question is answered, one may exhale heavily through puffed cheeks or heave their 
chests. Elsewhere, during a convorstation where someone is lying, they will most likely 
try to mask it with a strong emotion or behavior that may seem slightly out of context. 
To detect a lie while looking for only these features takes a great deal of analyzing and 
infering. This is also not a definite way to tell if a person is lying. 

When a person is lying they do not want to get caught up in themselves. 
They may take a lot of time to process a question, hesitate, or answer very slowly. 
Repeatition of parts of their story is also likely to seem as if they have their details 
straight. One may even be subject to elaborating an insignificant portion or detail of 
their story to appear more legitiment. As said by Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird,A 
persons innocence can be determined by how many times they defend themsleves. 
According to an ABCNews study, a person is most likely to lie over the telephone. 
This is because they wont be seen by the person they are lying to, so they feel less 
anxiety. When we lie, we create discomfort, and we do as much as we can to reduce 
discomfort. says Hancock, the director of the ABC study. Another study, done by US 
New-Health, estimates that a person lies at least once a day because  it is socially 
useful. These state why people lie and how, but in this science experiment, the goal is 
to determine the most effective way to spot lying. Be this through heart rate and blood 
pressure, facial and body language, or from their speech and explanations. Other 
experiments have specifically studies a corrolation between lying and blood pressure 


and found there to be one. But the question is that is it the most effective way to spot 
lying? 

This experiment will require a minimum of 10 subjects between the ages of 13


19. The numbers should ideally be even in gender. They will each have their standing 
blood pressure taken and recorded prior to the experiment along with notes about facial 
features or body language and speech. They will then be read the list of questions and 
instructed to lie for three of them. They will then be individually questioned. This will 
happen in three rounds. One using the blood pressure monitor, one with specifics to 
facial features and body language, and one with specifics to speech and explanation. 
Each round will require a new set of questions, and the participants will be asked to 
pick a new three to lie about. It will be up to the experimenter to try and decide which 
are the lies and which are the truths. At the end of the questioning, the particiapants 
will reveal which questions they lied about during each round. The success rate of 
each round should then be calculated in order to determine the most useful technique. 
In order for this experiment to work, the questions will have to be more in depth than 
yes/no style. They may be scenario questions or for their feeling on a subject. Each 
participant will need to sign a form stating that they will cooperate with the procedure of 
the experiment. 
In conclusion, people lie more often than we think. The goal of this experiment 
is to be able to identify a successful technique for spotting deception. It will analyze a 
persons blood pressure, their facial features and body language, and their speech while 
answering questions. 


 
